Kukla's Korner Hockey

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 16, 2014 – NBCSN averaged 4.1 million viewers for Saturday’s thrilling USA-Russia Olympic men’s hockey game (7:30-10:30 a.m. ET/4:30-7:30 a.m. PT) – setting a record for the most-watched hockey game in the network’s history (previous: 4.0 million for Blackhawks-Bruins in 2013 Stanley Cup Finals Game 3), according to live plus same day fast national data released today by The Nielsen Company. Viewership for the game peaked at 6.4 million from 10-10:30 a.m. ET during the tension-laden, eight-round shootout and is the most-watched half hour in NBCSN history.

The telecast of Team USA’s memorable men’s hockey victory led NBCSN to its best-ever daytime viewership (2.9 million viewers) and marked the third consecutive weekend day that NBCSN set a viewership record after last weekend’s milestone opening Saturday and Sunday telecasts of the Sochi Games.

• For the Sochi Games to date, NBC is averaging 23.5 million viewers and a 13.2 household rating/21 share from the Opening Ceremony through last night – up 14% and 8% respectively from the last European Winter Olympics (20.6 million viewers and 12.2/20 for 2006 Torino Games).

• Last night’s primetime Olympics on NBC (8:30-11 p.m. ET) averaged 17.1 million viewers – more than tripling the combined primetime viewership of ABC, CBS and FOX (5.3 million). In addition, last night’s 9.6 household rating/17 share more than doubled that for the other three networks (3.5 household rating). The comparable Saturday night for the 2006 Torino Games averaged 19.7 million viewers and an 11.3 rating/19 share while the 2010 Vancouver Olympics averaged 26.7 million viewers and a 14.7 rating/26 share.